FEATURE / LOCAL DIGITAL ECONOMY THE RISE OF COPRENEURS
Michele and George of the Childrensalon are part of a rising trend that sees more and more Britons mixing business with pleasure. An estimated 1.4 million couples now run their business together – otherwise known as ‘copreneurs’ – a number that is set to rise as more of us intend to set up our own businesses. • EL James, author of Fifty Shades of Grey, recruited her screenwriter husband to adapt the second installment of her steamy trilogy into a movie screenplay. • Husband and wife Niall and Faith MacArthur founded the well-known sandwich chain EAT in 1996 after going on holiday to Seattle and seeing fi rst hand the success of US chain Starbucks. • Chocolate manufacturer, Green & Blacks Organic was founded in 1991 by Craig Sams, an organic food expert and his journalist wife Josephine Fairley.
CLOSER TO HOME:
Lucy and Ben Parker (top left) co- founded Flow Tunbridge Wells in 2015. With a warm, bright and welcoming studio in the heart of the town, Flow offers a range of yoga classes as well as therapies including osteopathy, sports
massage, reiki, pregnancy massage and dry needling. Ben, a qualifi ed osteopath, also offers structural stability training sessions – a little like having your osteopath as a personal trainer. “It was a natural fi t as the two therapies of yoga and osteopathy go hand-in-hand,” he explains. “I want to fi x people and yoga is the ideal way to maintain a healthy body.” Flow runs yoga classes for every level
throughout the week. They have recently launched retreats in the UK and abroad. • Visit www.fl
owtunbridgewells.com Ross Gard and his partner Zoe
Randle (far left, below) are behind the Tiny Candle Co, producing eco-friendly candles and whose aim is to combine good quality design with a passion for sustainable and environmentally-friendly products. The range of beautifully packaged scented candles are handmade in Tunbridge Wells, using 100% natural soy wax, 100% natural essential oil, using 100% renewable energy. “From the 100% naturally derived soy wax to carbon offsetting through rainforest purchasing, we believe we have a product that not only looks and smells great but that is as environmentally friendly as we can possibly make it.” • Visit
www.tinycandleco.co.uk
www.indexdigital.co.uk
Brotherly love CT Travel Group was established as a traditional travel agency on Tunbridge Wells High Street in 1988, tempting customers to exotic destinations with colourful brochures, often having to wait on hold for hours to operators. Then along came the internet – and everything changed; access to the client market became easier and some of the tour operators became competitors. CEO and serial entrepreneur, Mark
Kempster, quickly realised the potential of the internet for his own business and embraced the change. CT Travel Group was able to scale and grow at the rate of the new technologies that were emerging. The company is now a multi-million
pound leisure and business travel company (70% of their business is now focused on
corporate travel) with offi ces in Tunbridge Wells and Maidstone as well as home- working staff across the UK. “Losing the shop front on the High
Street was sad, but we are still very much in touch with our local and loyal clients,” Mark explains, adding: “The internet has brought so many opportunities.” Mark, Tunbridge Wells born and bred, attributes the success and resilience of his organisation to recruiting the right staff and his ability to move with the times. His brother Tom is the Technical
Director and while Mark admits to never really switching off (“I eat, sleep and breathe the business!”) – he also admits that working with a family member brings an element of trust and stability to his role as CEO. • Visit
www.cttravelgroup.co.uk/
22
www.indexdigital.co.uk getting married? –
www.planningyourwedding.co.uk
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